Do you ever get bored with Videography? EP #305 - Den Lennie

Do you ever get bored being a videographer? I know in my own career I've had many moments when I've been on a shoot and I've just gone, I'm bored. This is not exciting me. It's not stimulating me. What am I doing? And I've actually considered a couple of times completely changing careers. And I want to talk about that today because I think it's a really important thing to acknowledge and recognize that getting bored with videography can happen. And I want to share with you some techniques I've used for how to overcome that and get that magic back and feel that excitement about your work. Now, this video is going to be slightly different this week. This is actually my 12th video this year where I've really focused on a very strategic approach to YouTube. And I've made 12 videos so far this year, this being the 12th. And I was sitting today thinking about what I wanted to talk about. And I've got a list of topics that I can go to. But I felt called to actually talk about this idea of boredom in videography because throughout my career, I've had many times when I felt a bit bored with what I'm doing now. If you are new to this channel, I'm Den Lenny. I've been a videographer for over 25 years. I've been very fortunate. I've worked with some great celebrities like Cristiano Ronaldo, Duran Duran, Robbie Williams. I've done major projects for Sony, but I've also done a whole host of other smaller video projects over the genres and career. I've had several times when I've felt a bit bored with what I'm doing because 95% of the time it's pretty mundane sort of video that you're making. So I wanted to share with you today some insights on how to kind of tackle that and accept when that happens and maybe, you know, just learn how to manage that better. And please, it would help us enormously if you were to like and subscribe to this channel. Ding the bell. And please leave a comment if you'd like to see us talk about a topic or. Or you've got a comment on something, whether you agree with us or don't agree with us. I'd love to get the conversation going in the comments, so please do that. And if you're listening to this on the podcast, please make sure you come over to the YouTube channel and subscribe and watch the videos as well as listening to the audio. Right, let's get on with this video. Not all Jobs are going to be showreel worthy. In fact, I would say that about 80% of what we shoot as videographers is kind of boring interviews, right? But what I found in my career and what I think you should do if you're ever feeling bored with videography, is find ways to gamify the process and find the challenges in the little things that you do every day. So when I was a news cameraman, I probably shot somewhere in the region of three and a half thousand interviews in my time in broadcast television. And so what I do is I'd kind of find something in the shot to give me that little hit. Because I think as creators and creatives, we need that dopamine hit when we look through the viewfinder and we go, ah, that's a bit of magic there. And it might just be a sunburst in the shot, it might just be the way the light's falling on a wall. But I find if you don't start to gamify the process, it becomes like any job. And I think one of the mistakes that a lot of younger videographers make is thinking that everything they do in the commercial world needs to be show worthy. And the fact is, as a professional, sometimes you just have to show up and make the boring look interesting. I actually think that the main job we have as videographers is as problem solvers. We always going into tricky situations where things are far from perfect and we use our skills of light and lens choice and depth of field and framing and composition and creating dimension in a two dimensional world, which is the sensor, to engage the viewer, engage the audience in an emotional experience. That to me is the definition of what we do as filmmakers. But of course, not every job allows you that opportunity. Sometimes you're just talking to people who are not used to being on camera in a less than ideal office location, and then you're shooting some B roll of them, doing some mundane task and trying to find interesting ways to make it look interest. And I think the important thing here is to remember that our job is to craft a story with what we have. And we just rarely have the resources we'd like in order to make that happen and realize it in the way that perhaps we have it in our minds. I think that's where some of the boredom comes in. Sometimes you just get bored with the frustration that things aren't easier in terms of the location you're shooting on or the subject that you're shooting. So with all the clients I work with inside my vba, we get used to the fact that not every job is going to be exciting and fun, but that's okay. That's why if you're being paid well for it, it kind of makes up for it. Another area that I think is really important to focus on is the niche or the niche that you're working in. If you're doing videography for anyone who'll pay you, then you're always only really going to be skimming the surface of different industries and verticals in business. Whereas when you go niche, you get exposed to more exciting projects the deeper you go into that niche. So, for example, if you're in a healthcare niche, you might start doing some customer case studies, but then someone might come along and offer you the opportunity to shoot operations or new technologies and labs. And that creates an opportunity to get more creative with your lighting and craft more engaging scenes. In fact, one of the things I used to do when I was working in TV was I was really into films. And so I. I try and deploy scenes or essence of scenes from films in some of the TV I was shooting. And a great example of that was many, many years ago. I was shooting a sports program, and there was a great scene from the Big Lebowski with Jesus and this bowling ball in a bowling alley. And there was this time I got an opportunity to actually go and film a world champion tempin bowler, and he was up for it. And we did this whole scene of Jesus replicating that scene from the Big Lebowski. So that was just a way that I found myself keeping the interest going in what was just frankly, another sports story. So the more niched you go in a sector or a vertical, the more opportunities you'll get to be shooting more interesting things. And that will save you from some of the boredom. Now, if you're running a video business, then you'll know that there are times in the year when you are more enthused about what you're doing. And there are times, times in the year when you're perhaps less enthused. And I want to give a shout out here to a YouTuber, Gideon Shalwick, who's a friend of mine. You should go and check out his channel. I'll link to it here. And he taught me the idea of seasons in business, and that not every season in business is going to be one that's going to be productive. So if you think about farming, you can't plant seeds 12 months of the year and harvest 12 months of the year. You need to leave the field Alone for a while and let the earth settle. And you need to plant in the spring, you know, tend to the crops in the summer, and then harvest in the autumn. So business is very much the same. You can't always be shooting amazing things. There are times when you're going to have to work on your business, building systems, you know, doing marketing campaigns, putting out content to reach out to new clients. And that can sometimes be very challenging and a bit boring for videographers who, you know, for the most part, we love getting. Getting the lights out, getting the cameras out, putting a nice lens on, shooting a scene, and getting that kick from creating something from nothing. But the fact is, if you get used to the idea of seasons in business, then you learn that it's okay to have days or weeks where not much is going on and you've got to knuckle down and just tend to your crops, which is the business, you know, the marketing, the sales, the invoicing. So if you accept this concept of seasons in your business, you kind of go easier on yourself when things are maybe a bit quieter, and you can just focus on building your business and working on the business rather than in the business. Because as we know, when we're busy on jobs, we're not doing any marketing, we're not looking after the accounts. It's very easy to then hit that roller coaster where you suddenly go, ah, I've got no work shit what I do now. So you want to try and avoid that by being aware of what seasons look like in a business. This another really important question I think you should ask yourself is why? Why are you doing this now? Pretty much every videographer got into video because we love the gear, we love the process, we love the lenses, the formats, the sound gear, the camera gear, all the accessories. And I think that's a really strong reason to get into anything. It starts as something you just love doing, but when it becomes your business, some of that novelty can wear off and it can become a bit boring. And so getting really clear on why you're doing what you're doing is really important. And one of the easiest ways to do that is to create your own vision board. And a vision board is something that enables you to imagine or visualize what you want your life to look like at some point in the future. And I've been a great advocate of vision boards since 2013. 2013. And in 2013, I made a vision board about wanting to live in Australia, live by the beach, have some kind of camper van, and also travel in business class. I've never traveled in business class. And by 2015, virtually all of those things have become reality. And so I think the brain has a much easier job of adapting its goal setting when you have a visual representation. If you think about when you look at a beautiful piece of art or a photograph, it sticks in your mind. The brain, the subconscious, works far better on visual imagery than words or to do lists. And so if you have a really strong vision for what you want your future to look like, then what you can do is you can reverse engineer what's required to achieve that, how much that's going to cost. And that can then determine which direction you go in with your video in terms of what kind of clients you go after, what kind of work you go after. And you'll probably find that if you do that, you'll have a far greater sense of purpose. And purpose is really what drives us. Purpose is the reason we get up in the morning. Purpose is something that if we weren't getting paid and we didn't need to earn money, we'd still do that thing anyway. So it's really important to have a clear purpose and to start that process using a vision board. Nobody gets to the end of the career and thinks, ah, you know, I wish I'd worked harder. I wish I'd done more shoots. So if you get clear on what you want your vision to be now, if it is to make that film, then put that on your vision board. So at least you can tick that off and feel that sense of achievement going into the next season of your business. And my final tip for you today is to. To take breaks. This is something that I didn't learn till later on in my career and in my 30s. I was just work, work, work, work, work. I loved what I was doing, so it never felt like work. But as I got into my 40s and then my 50s, I am much more conscious of time and the importance of time away from your business in order to have space to think, to feel, to breathe, to, to listen, to absorb. And one of the greatest ways to do that is in nature. So having regular time off, I've now programmed into my year a week off every quarter. I think business works well in seasons and it works well in quarters. So at the end of every quarter, I take one week off and I have a break from the business and a break from video and a break from my coaching, and I recharge. And that recharging is so invigorating, it's so energizing. And I find that when I am recharging I get really, really creative. I come up with fresh ideas, I come up with new ways of tackling problems and I find that that is a way in which I am able to refresh my energy levels and my motivation. So I come back with a new perspective. And I think that one of the dangers in videography is that it can be so full on with its workload that you just find one week blends into the next, one month blends into the next, and you feel overwhelmed. And I think that can add to boredom in your video business. So by having very strategic approaches to taking time out and having fresh air and fresh perspective is I think you'll find that you'll get a renewed energy for your business.

You've been listening to the Video Business Accelerator Podcast with your host Dan Lenny. If you are a video business owner who is tired of going it alone and would benefit from mentorship, support and weekly accountability, then mouse over to www.videobusinessaccelerator.com to learn more about how the Accelerator program can help you today. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show over on itunes, and we'd really appreciate you taking a few minutes to leave a review.